A few weeks had passed since Lucy and Kate had reconciled. The two women had managed to regain a certain balance and the tension of the last few days had completely disappeared, to the delight of everyone.

The NCIS team was in the War Room for another investigative briefing, all gathered around the various screens, attentive and very focused. The face of a youthful man appeared, in his sailor uniform, staring into the photographer's lens with a slightly fearful determination. With fine features, dark eyes and a shaved head, Jane thought he was far too young to be the subject of an investigation, and for good reason:

"This is Apprentice Seaman Parker Trevis, he was reported missing by his officer and we have now reached 48 hours. He was last seen in the company of members of his crew at a bar on the South Coast."

The screen changed to show a picture certainly taken during the famous party. We can see a group of military in civilian clothes very happy.

"The evening went smoothly, they all went home to sleep but no one ever saw Parker again. His belongings are still there, one uniform is missing, probably the one he wore when he woke up, which makes us estimate the time of his disappearance between 7 and 8:30am. And so far, that's all we have."

Which was pretty meager. Ernie had already started typing on the keyboard in front of him to search for information on social networks.

"I can't tell you where he is, but I can tell you who took him."

The team's attention was instantly drawn to Agent Whistler, who had just made a dramatic entrance into the war room. Lucy wore a very admiring expression. Her companion wore a pale blue jacket over a gray blouse, a file in one hand, and handed Agent Malik a flash drive with the other. Jane smiled at her.

"You have our full attention, Kate."

A man in his fifties appeared on the screen, thin glasses on his nose, a light beard, bald head. He was wearing a benevolent smile that gave him a raptor look and it was very disturbing.

"Jeffrey McKingcale, he was the head of one of Hawaii's largest conversation therapy centers until the island banned the practice in 2018. Since then, he has continued underground, offering "self-acceptance" or "reconnecting to one's inner spirituality" therapies." She had mimed the quotation marks each time, and it was easy to tell from her tone of voice how sickened she was by this kind of practice. "The FBI stepped in this morning to shut down the two centers he was in charge of and we found this."

A new photo fills the screen, it showed a complete sailor uniform, neatly folded and stored.

"The stuff is labeled in with Parker Trevis's name but the man was not on the premises. Neither was he, nor two other people listed here."

She scrolled through the images to bring up a list of names, quite a long one, and next to three of them was the inscription AM. With his arms crossed over his dark grey shirt, Jesse shook his head in disgust.

"Conversion therapies, who can still do that in the 21st century? What a horror.

-I can confirm, having been there several times, it's really not a vacation destination I would recommend."

A shocked silence followed Kate's statement. The young woman continued with fluidity before the unease set in.

"In my experience, they tend to move the most recalcitrant people to separate areas to prevent them from "contaminating" the others. Not to mention the intensity of deprivation, punishment, and other humiliations that increase. So we have to find them quickly."

The screen flipped once more to display the 3 names and associated photos of the missing persons, mostly teenagers or the same age as Parker.

"Jeffrey and his accomplices are in custody at the FBI facility, they are being interviewed and they are available to you, as well as the exhibits that were seized on site and the premises that were sealed. The FBI has already combed through everything but we didn't know at the time that there would be any missing persons, so maybe we missed something, it's worth checking."

She put the file on the table to end her tirade. Her eyes met Jane's, full of understanding, and she continued with the same energy.

"Well, Jesse and Kai, go take a look at the buildings, Lucy, Kate and I will check out our FBI colleagues and Ernie?

-I'm already on it, I'll let you know as soon as I have something.

-Perfect."

The team left the room, except for Lucy. Jane put her hand on her friend's shoulder as she passed and left them both. The little brunette approached. She was not at all used to her friend letting go of elements of her personal life in this way. She slid her hand behind her back to show her support and presence.

"Hey, you okay?"

Kate nodded slightly, she had said it because she wanted NCIS to understand that she cared about this investigation. The search this morning had brought back nauseating memories, but mostly they had fueled her anger.

"I'll be better when we get them all back."

His tone and his gaze were determined. Lucy nodded.

"Got it."

They left the room together with a decided step.

The FBI had gathered all the items from the search in one room, some agents were still working on studying and labeling while others were already working on correlating them with the elements of the investigation. Jane was assisting with the interrogations while Kate and Lucy were concentrating on Jeffrey McKingcale's personal affairs. The place was spacious, with a light hubbub. Empty boxes were placed on the tables to sort out the various objects. The two young women had settled in a corner of the room, Kate trying to manage her frustration as well as possible.

"I feel like I'm looking for a needle in a haystack."

With her latex-gloved hands, she showed Lucy an opened pack of gum, the interest of which was more than questionable. The little brunette wrinkled her forehead slightly.

"Hey, there are over a dozen agents working on it, we're bound to find something eventually.

-Hmm..."

Her jacket resting on the back of her chair, Kate was going through a pile of various tickets under the watchful eye of her companion.

"Hey, you never told me about...what you'd been through."

The tall blonde pushed back a set of papers and grabbed the cup of tea right next to her to take a sip.

"Not exactly the kind of thing you can slip in the middle of a conversation." She squinted her eyes as she tried to decipher some handwriting. "Besides, sometimes it scares people away."

Lucy raised her eyebrows. She was checking notebooks seized in the search, a collection of nauseating ideas but nothing relevant so far.

"What do you mean run away?

-As in, "Hey, maybe I'll avoid dating this slightly traumatized girl, it's bound to be complicated. That kind of thing for example."

The NCIS agent frowned.

"What? Who does that?"

Kate met the eyes of her companion for a few seconds.

"Lots of people do that, Lucy. Sometimes it's just to protect themselves," she shrugged.

-OK then, I'm here if you ever want to talk about it and I have no intention of running away."

The NCIS agent lifted her chin slightly to support her words. Kate smiled gently.

"Thanks. Later maybe." She turned her attention back to the documents in front of her. "Right now what I'd like to know is where they are being held." She frowned and read the document once more.

"Wait, I might have something."

Lucy walked around quickly to stand over her shoulder. Kate gathered some documents in front of her. Receipts, bills, photos.

"It looks like he has a boat but it doesn't show up anywhere in the administration records.

-Maybe it doesn't belong to him. Do you have the name of the ship somewhere?"

The FBI agent shook his head.

"Just a piece here, Alm...something."

She didn't have time to finish her sentence when Lucy's phone beeped. Agent Malik had sent a series of messages with several pieces of information. And apparently he had also found the boat, but with the name and port it was moored in. The little brunette pushed her phone aside so that Kate could read along with her.

"Alma Mater, AM."

Lucy gave her colleague a gentle tap on the shoulder.

"Let's go, I'll get Jane, we'll meet at the car."

A few minutes later, the NCIS team accompanied by their favorite FBI agent landed on the docks of one of Hawaii's many ports. Weapons in hand, bulletproof vests, they moved between the boats as discreetly as possible, the problem was that it was almost impossible to hide, especially in broad daylight, they were like sitting ducks. Jane coordinated the advance of her team while hoping frankly that there would be no one armed on the ship.

The Alma Mater was a crudely patched up old fishing boat. The peeling blue paint on the hull had seen better days and the white painted name was seriously starting to fade. The curtains in the navigation cabin were drawn, preventing them from seeing inside. They listened for any sign of activity, but apart from the lapping of the water against the hull, there was nothing.

Jane motioned for her team to board. They continued to move in silence, managing to peek through the gaps in the curtains. Kai nodded in response to his boss's questioning gaze; he hadn't seen anyone inside. Jesse put his hand on the handle and glanced at Kate who nodded, she was ready. Agent Bonne opened the door wide and yelled:

"NCIS, freeze!"

The FBI agent rushed in first and went downstairs, gun pointed straight ahead. The poorly ventilated interior had been summarily fitted out, a lamp flickered vaguely in one corner and it hardly managed to illuminate the space. Four bunk beds on either side of the walls and three people strapped to them, in a second or unconscious state. Kate felt her mouth go dry.

"The victims are there, there is no one else."

She rushed to the bedside of the first person, a young girl no more than 16 years old. She must have struggled because there was blood on her wrists and ankles. Kate checked her pulse and breathed a sigh of relief when she felt the steady beat. Kai quickly joined her, followed by Jane. The young man checked a second victim:

"Parker is here, he's alive."

And Jane made the same observation about the third victim.

"It looks like they're sedated."

Kai nodded his head in agreement.

"They probably do that to keep them quiet when there's no one to watch them.

-Or maybe there's one last accomplice who's gone rogue."

The three officers shared a look at the sound of the ambulance sirens arriving on the scene.